Collection: Sam Gales

My work is rooted in my interracial identity and reflects on growing up in a family of several interracial generations. Being perceived as ‘exotic’ is experienced as a generational curse, because racial ambiguity is often fetishized in a world that still sees western culture as white and European in origin. I have grown up with the feeling of always being on the outside looking in, feeling as though I exist at an infinite crossroads within myself. In my work, I attempt to capture the interstitial space that is my identity in a variety of ways. I often begin each piece with a black and white color palette which is contrasted with a mixture of vibrant colors as additional layers develop. I also use visual elements mixed with written language to describe a scene, where both real and surreal imagery coexist. Lastly, I freely negotiate the space between the second and third dimensions. Everything exists in the in between, and that that condition is too often ‘exoticized’ by the white gaze.